As a mortgage loan officer, the marketing ideas can seem limited. Or, you might be tempted to think that most ideas about marketing don’t apply to your field.

However, there are only so many things you can use to your advantage, in spite of the cycle the economy might cross. At any given time, people are looking for a cozy space to call “home.” It’s up to you and your peers to help them find what they are looking for.

But, how can you make sure the people will call you when they’re looking for a loan, and not your peers?

Below you’ll find ten mortgage marketing ideas and strategies that will increase your chances of closing the deals you want.

The first three ideas are not technical strategies, but they have a weighty word on the relationship you build with your prospects. Furthermore, these relationships are what will help a client decide if they will buy from you or not.

1. Pick Your Niche

Everyone needs a home, so there’s clearly a consistent need for people in your industry. But, the truth is “everyone” includes a wide range of people, with different tastes, needs, and desires.

By the nature of your job, you rely mostly on recommendations from your customers. More than in any other field, the quality of your work reflects on your results. However, people usually recommend a service to peers who have similar interests. This means that if you get to know a demographic niche, you could become an expert on it.

The last thing you want is to be a Jack of all trades and master of none. If you chose so, you wouldn’t be able to fully address the needs of any demographic niche. So, pick your side, be it renovation loans, VA loans, FHA loans or any other, and market to that

2. Offer Honest Compliments

Having great relationships is the starting point of any successful salesman. Don’t shy away from making a compliment on a house or a builder’s work. Nonetheless, don’t do it just because it makes you feel good.

More than ever, people are looking for authenticity. They can sense when something doesn’t feel right, and flattering will make you seem inauthentic.

3. Offer Your Help

This strategy is somewhat related to the one above. Once you start building rapport with somebody, offer to help them with selling the house. To make sure you get a positive reply, think about what you would need help with if you were the owner of the building. For example, suggest your favorite moving company, inform them about great local maintenance companies and services, provide them with a neighborhood guide, etcetera,

4. Grow Your Network

Although Social Media has become one of the primary means of marketing, most people still rely on face-t0-face communication to determine whether or not they’d like to do business with you. With that being said, if you play your cards right, offline marketing can still turn in your favor.

Many loan officers do not find it useful to climb down their Social Media profiles, so people rarely get to know them. Just go out there and start networking! Who knows? You could be the only loan officer whose marketing ideas come through offline in your area. Not as billboards, but as simple business cards.

5. Grow a Healthy Database

When you sell buildings, the focus isn’t on quantity as much as it is on quality. Actually, the whole process is about quality, and so should be your database. What is the use of tens of thousands of contacts in your database, if they barely know who you are? If they aren’t active or interested in your services, clean them.

6. Update Your Online Profile and Website

Keeping all of your profiles up-to-date will let your prospects know that you’re attentive to details and that you’re on top of things. It means that you are updated, especially with what’s going on in the market.

7. Use Social Media

After you have created an offline image of yourself, you can start building it online, as well. Social Media can be a powerful tool to offer your services and help to your clients. You can choose to go the other way around and start with the online persona. However, things will evolve slower, as the prospects don’t have “warm information” or recommendations about you.

You can use infographics to share interesting things or fun facts about houses, building, or the market. You can also use video recordings of different homes for people who don’t seem to find the time to visit the place or try a live video from a building that doesn’t have many potential buyers.

You can even use video in your emails with you clients, to help build relationships, and convey messages about the mortgage process that are sometimes hard to relay through text!

9. Consider an Email Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve cleaned your database and have kept the warmest contacts, you can start engaging them in an email marketing strategy. Various books teach you how to create funnels and loops for your prospects. A great idea could be to engage them in an email sequence before they sign up for your services.

Split one of your most exciting selling stories in a few emails, and end each one with a hook for the upcoming one. This way, you’ll make them eager to find out how the story continues and eventually ends, but you’ll also build rapport with them.

10. Automate All Marketing Strategies

After you master Social Media and Email Marketing, you can start automating all your marketing strategies. Even if it may seem like it, this doesn’t mean you should give up on the personalization of your marketing plan. It only means you should automate the things that a bot can do at least as efficiently as you, without altering your relationship with the customers.

By doing so, you’ll get more time to start all over again and grow your network.

Know Your Ideal Customers First

One of the best marketing ideas for mortgage loan officers is to know their ideal customer and address their needs. Just imagine if you could have a personal advisor while looking for the house of your dreams – they meet any of your needs and wishes before you even say them out loud. You’d surely want to buy your home from them.